There is a lot left over on the tray that the air traveler is served: salad, vegetable side dish, a few potatoes – the camera above the tray captured everything precisely and transferred it to the software that Lufthansa uses to test whether artificial intelligence can Food waste in leftovers can be better recognized and reduced.

The caterer can then be informed which side dishes are required by passengers, explains a Lufthansa developer on Thursday evening in the Frankfurt House of Creativity.

"Business passengers are therefore significantly more selective than economy passengers."

Falk Heunemann

Business editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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The pilot project, which will be presented at an event, is intended to inspire Hessian entrepreneurs to use artificial intelligence (AI) much more often.

According to Marcel Isbert from the company Statworx, Germany is already lagging far behind when it comes to this topic.

"But Hesse is clearly lagging behind."

The company, which specializes in data analysis, has therefore now developed the so-called AI Hub with other activists, a funding strategy consisting of several parts, which is intended to better convey the advantages of artificial intelligence.

It can't be that so many people are still afraid of artificial intelligence, says Isbert.

"She is an assistant who does our work for us and can make life easier."

Berlin, Munich and Augsburg as role models

It is remarkable that a private company is driving this funding initiative.

The state of Hesse and the city of Frankfurt had repeatedly presented their own AI initiatives, but comparatively little happened afterwards.

Similar projects in other major German cities, such as the AI ​​Campus in Berlin or Applied AI in Munich, serve as a model for the current private initiative.

“If it works there, it will work here too,” says Isbert.

From next year, it should be possible via the AI ​​Hub for Hessian companies to develop their own AI prototypes free of charge, and to use consulting and training offers or cloud computers for developments.

The initiative cooperates with companies such as Microsoft, Google and TÜV Süd.

For the time being, however, Isbert has refrained from setting up his own AI center.

It's not financially viable at the moment, he says.

There are definitely ideas for this: On Thursday evening, the Frankfurt Communications Museum and the AI ​​Frankfurt/Rhein-Main association presented a concept for an AI showroom that is intended to show visitors how it works and how it can be used.

A similar room in Augsburg is a model for this.